Had to pull my 1911

[Browns Fan]

Quote:
"I am an Owner Operator,(tractor trailer)"

Does your wife have the means and the will to protect herself while you're on the road? I certainly hope so!

 

[JImbothefiveth]

Hold 'em, call the cops and have them hauled off.

Just make sure they don't get too close, they might try talking to distract you while slowly moving closer. Good minimum might be 20-30 feet.

And +1 on making sure the wife can defend herself.

 

[Bob F.]

He's in WV, good to go!

Sheriff in a southern county, when asked about a fatal shooting, replied:"They generally take care of their own problems; we wouldn't have been called at all if someone hadn't been killed.' Facts is facts.

I'll bet Mama's GTG also.

Good job, OP!
Stay safe.
Bob

 

[30 cal slob]

I recently trained with a gent from West Virginia.

I'll paraphrase him on self-defense in that state:

In West Virginia, "He Needed Killing" is a valid legal defense.

Try to pull that off in the urban northeast.

Anyhoo, I'm glad that no bodies were perforated with high velocity .45 inch diameter lead projectiles.

In hindsight, I would have detained the two trespassers at gunpoint (if legal in WV) and would have called the police immediately to have them arrested and charged.

I would also echo sentiments previously echoed here ... does your significant other have the means to defend herself when you are not home?

 

[Chester32141]

Sounds to me like you did the right thing ... I believe the difference of opinions here reflect the different laws across the country ... I wouldn't have shot them w/o them doing something a little more aggresive but I danged sure would have let them know what they were dealing with about the same time y'all did ...

Chester

 

[jackdanson]

I don't see too much that he did wrong.. should have called the police and firing into the berm probably wasn't a good idea, but other than that...

I would have NOT held them for the police.. you don't know if they are armed and are going to decide "screw it, I can't go back to prison, I'll get in a shootout instead" Get them away from you then call the police.. ecspecially if you live in a relatively small area where they could be easily tracked down.

 

[hso]

Two guys crossed onto posted property and were about to engage in breaking and entering at the man's home when the he caught them at it. He drew his handgun as a precaution because there were two of them and he didn't know whether they were armed or not. He didn't shoot or attempt to detain them and instead ran them off the property. Right up to this point he has acted in a self-reliant responsible manner consistent with a rural setting where government isn't the solution to all problems (and we don't know how good the Sheriff's Office is). What he does afterwards (and doesn't do) is what can be called into question.

Should he have fired off those few rounds to drive the point home that it wasn't safe to come on his property to steal? Probably not, but intimidation is a powerful tool and shouldn't be overlooked. While there's the consideration of how it would appear if he ended up in court there's the fact that in rural western WVA (been there plenty of times) there's little chance he'd end up in court for anything he did because he didn't actually break any laws. What he did do was make sure that the miscreants got the point that he wasn't holding a paperweight, without doing anything stupid like firing a warning or parting shot.

Should he have called the sheriff? Probably, but again, if he considers the situation "handled" by scaring the would-be thieves off and ensuring that they're evicted and no longer a problem in his locale it's not uncommon for folks in rural areas not to see a need to bring the sheriff into it. Just a some trash run off, nothing too serious.

Some have suggested holding them for the SO. Bad idea. Every moment you hold a criminal for the LEOs is another opportunity for things to go bad. You're objective is to protect your life and the lives of your loved ones. Getting the threat away for you and yours if far better than pretending you're wearing a badge. Search the threads about holding criminals.

The whole switching guns thing may seem silly since the gun he had worked just fine, but he seems to have more confidence in the larger more familiar handgun and that has probably provided a greater sense of well being than the smaller less familiar handgun.

Under the circumstances it sounds like a reasonable course of action with some minor arguable side issues.

 

[Bubbles]

I'm in the same general area as the OP. Legally, he's fine. If he gets in trouble w/ the po-po, it's because he decided to be nice and not ventilate the perps.

Just to give you an idea of how things are, a few weeks ago our neighbor's burglar alarm went off during the day. The hubby called the cops and was out with the dogs waiting on his cell phone for the cops to show up, and keeping an eye on the house. One deputy arrives, looks at the hubby and our big GSD, tells hubby to put a leash on the dog and walk around the neighbor's house with him as his backup is fifteen minutes away. The GSD in question is a 100# love-lush, but a goblin wouldn't necessarily know that.

 

[JImbothefiveth]

May also want to be on the lookout, in casse they try to get back at you for getting them evicted!

 

[lawboy]

OP did fine in my opinion.
Those worried about what he did after the men were off his property are off the mark. His post incident actions would not even be admissible into evidence in any trial as they are wholly unrelated to the incident -- removed in both time, situation and presence of the other parties. Shooting into the berm was not illegal, so any mention of it during any subsequent proceeding would be prejudicial, confusing to the petit lay jury, and would not constitute evidence relevant to the trial.
Shoot as many shots into the berm as you want. All the above would hold true SO LONG AS YOU DO NOT TESTIFY OR STATE TO POLICE THAT YOU FIRED THE SUBSEQUENT SHOTS TO WARN, INTIMIDATE OR INFORM THE OTHER PARTIES. Any statement like that would make the shots highly relevant and could end up costing you in a trial. Simply put, you were out shooting in your yard as usual. That is all.

 

[Lonestar49]

...

Agreed, but emphasizing, "taking some 'night practice' to solidify the time and reason.. "Late night practice", but I would let lawboy advice ya on using that, more descriptive, term. As late night to some, is early night for others..


Ls

 

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

I could never reconcile letting them get away myself. I would have to at least make an attempt at telling them to lay down til the police arrive. Don't say "yeah but if they just walk away while not posing a threat, you can't do anything". I know that of course. I said make an attempt. To simply let them leave without even trying to hold them so they can go off and try again on someone else is unconscionable.

 

[rondog]

I think the OP did good, but I can't say that I would have done the same thing. Can't speculate on what I would have likely done, t'aint very "High Road".

 

[lksseven]

He doesn't describe his physical stature or those of the intruders. A jury would be interested in that information. The size, demeanor, and condition of the intruders would greatly influence my decision as to when I was pulling my weapon (think 2 young Mormon evangelists in coats and ties vs a couple of characters from a Mad Max movie).

I don't think it's cricket to second guess his decision to pull his Kimber when he did. It's not the old West where the good guy has to say "Draw" before he can defend himself (His wife was there, don't forget - I'm going to err on the side of my family's safety, thank you very much).

But where I do disagree with his action is that I would have held them (tried anyway - if they ran off I'd let 'em run) and called the police to come take a report and arrest them.

JMO.

 

[springmom]

I'm not clear on how rural the OP's setup is (sounds pretty rural to me) but as I read, I tried to imagine a parallel situation on our ranch out in Llano county. I pretty seriously doubt either the sheriffs' deputies or DPS would think I'd be too smart trying to hold bad guys at gunpoint until they got there in, oh, 45 minutes if I was lucky....

Running 'em off is a good choice.

But, relax about the Ultra Carry II. I have had one for a couple of years now and I would (and do) trust it with my life. No problems. You may want the extra round you get with the bigger gun, but you don't need to worry about reliability.

Springmom

 

[Poor East Texan]

I wasn't there and don't live in that state.

Sounds like he done ok. I don't think I'd just let 'em walk, but that's just me.

"My god, he's shooting at these cans!"

 

[Shovelhead]

Next time (if there is one)......take a lesson from Gramma.

When 85-year-old Leda Smith caught a would-be burglar in her home, the great-grandmother got tough. She pulled out her .22-caliber pistol and held the suspect at gunpoint until police arrived.

An 85-year-old woman makes an intruder call the police on himself.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=5624360&page=1
....more on the link

 

[conw]

Conwict, is it possible that you skipped over the above before posting your response?

I guess I was in a bad mood and thought he had no reason to assume they were "about to push in his door." Now that I think about it, having no reason to assume he was wrong since all other signs seem to indicate he's fairly reasonable and just wanted to get it off his chest here on THR, I think I was over-analyzing.

Carry on; I rescind my main criticism.

 

[conw]

Shovelhead, that is AWESOME. The only problem is that it might confuse the police because it is a form of (merited, IMO) coercion. Might make court proceedings funky.

Then again, the above is likely untrue if you're an 85 year old woman.

 

[Zedo]

I had to pull the salad dressing -- expiration date.

 

[Griff]

It seems like a lot of people want us to walk a fine line between politically correct (or attorney proof, or whatever your favorite flavor is) and doing whatever it takes to get through to the dummies who don't care what common decency or the law says, anyway. Pretty hard to figure all that out when you're in the middle of the moment, but a lot easier to read about later.

I think ya done good, Mtnwelder! Thanks for the lesson.

 

[luzyfuerza]

Actually being in a nasty, threatening situation makes a person want to have the best tool for the job.

We want reliable, servicable tools when lives are on the line. That's why we put up with the extra recoil and weight of handguns in "service calibers" instead of all carrying mouseguns in .22 lr. That's why we anguish over which self-defense ammo in our chosen defensive gun is likely to end a confrontation most quickly and humanely. That's why most of us would, if given the choice, rather have a shotgun or rifle in our hands over a pistol when we think about being ready for a time when the threats start flying.

That the OP wanted his trusty full-sized gun fits perfectly here. The comfort resulting from carrying a small pistol is forgotten as soon as we are forced to take a shot that we know would be easier with the bigger gun that's home in the safe.

We should think very carefully before we carry guns or ammo that we are not completely confident in. Use a good tool, and learn how to use it well. Don't ever put yourself in a situation where you might have to say: "If only I had practiced more, I could have..."

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Interesting. Somebody from the trailer park is a problem for you and they get evicted, but the cops don't get called, and this has happened more than once?

Except for reporting it to the police, I wouldn't have handled it any differently.

I dunno. Calling a 3rd party to deliver threatening messages on your behalf sounds awfully poorly reasoned.

I am with several of the others on this. If I am one of those two bad guys, then your place will be seeing me again because we know where you live, when you come and go, but you don't know where we live anymore. We'll just wait and watch for you to leave in your big old truck...

 

[buck00]

I proceeded to tell the two of them how they were going to exit my property.

That was the best course of action- a lot of people don't realize "detaining" suspects is just a bluff. Sure you can play cop and tell them to lay down, etc, but if they want to run you cannot shoot them in response.

I would have called the cops to report it- simply to get things documented.

 

[Chrome]

Mtnwelder,

You did good. Handled it like a real mountaineer.

Later,
Chrome...